MiD DAY Xl: The best Under-16 cricketers in Mumbai

In its quest to promote school sports, this newspaper's first initiative is to project 11 top performers in the recent Harris Shield U-16 tourney. Watch out for more!

Prithvi Shaw (Captain)School: Rizvi Springfield (Bandra)Playing position: OpenerBatting style: Right-handed batsmanBowling style: Off spinnerAge: 14Performance this seasonTotal runs: 1060 Total wickets: 9Harris highlight: The diminutive batting prodigy set a new record when he piled on a mammoth 546 runs against St Francis D'Assisi (Borivli) in the Harris Shield season-opener (Nov 20) at Azad Maidan. He erased the previous mark of 473 set by his school mate Armaan Jaffer. The Rizvi captain ended the season on a high, leading his school to its sixth consecutive Harris Shield title.

Vaibhav KalamkarSchool: Rizvi Springfield (Bandra)Playing position: Opener-wicketkeeperBatting style: Right-handed batsman Age: 13Performance this seasonTotal runs: 300 Wicketkeeping: Four catches & one stumpingHarris Shield highlight: The cautious opening batsman played the sheet-anchor role to perfection in his team's Harris Shield season-opening encounter against St Francis D'Assisi (Borivli) with a first wicket partnership of 153 runs with skipper Prithvi Shaw, who went on to register a record 546 runs. In the final, against IES VN Sule Guruji, Vaibhav took two crucial catches besides scoring a valuable 48 and 26 in the two innings as Rizvi won via first innings lead.

Shreyas DalviSchool: IES Raja Shivaji (Dadar)Playing position: Middle order batsmanBatting style: Right handedBowling style: Leg spinnerAge: 15.Performance this seasonTotal runs: 423 runs Total wickets: 4Harris highlight: Shreyas' best performance this season came against IES Digambar (Dadar) — he scored a 234-ball 254 and took two wickets.

Yash BhojaneSchool: IES VN Sule GurujiPlaying position: All rounderBowling style: Left-arm pacerBatting style: Left handedAge: 15.Performance this seasonTotal runs: 361Total wickets: 10Harris highlight: Yash's knock of 216 saw his team beat IES New English in Rd 1. In the final vs Rizvi, he took 7-88 in the first innings.

Sidak Singh (Vice-captain)School: Rizvi SpringfieldPlaying position: All-rounderBatting style: Left-handed batsmanBowling style: Left-arm spinnerAge: 13Performance this seasonTotal runs: 150Total wickets: 33Harris highlight: Sidak is an all-rounder, who has consistently bailed his school out of trouble in close matches thanks to his crafty spin. He repeated his heroics in the Harris Shield final against IES VN Sule Guruji (Dadar). After his team was bowled out for 310, a total that VN Sule Guruji expected to achieve for a vital first innings lead, Sidak accounted for as many as seven wickets (7-62) to restrict the opponents to 167. the middle-order batsman also had a valuable contribution of 56 runs in his team's first innings total.

Yash JoshiSchool: Shardashram Vidyamandir EnglishPlaying position: All rounderBatting style: Right-handed batsmanBowling style: Leg spinnerAge: 15.Performance this seasonTotal runs: 275 runsTotal wickets: 25Harris highlight: In the second round vs IES Digambar Patkar (Dadar), Yash scored a fine 152 to rescue his team, who were tottering at 30-4 at one stage. He followed up his batting show with a fine performance with the ball, finishing with 10 wickets in the match. The effort wasn't good enough for a win though.

Satyak PatelSchool: Hansraj Morarji (Andheri)Playing position: BowlerBowling style: Left-arm spinnerBatting style: Left-handed batsmanAge: 15Performance this seasonTotal wickets: 26Total runs: 91Harris highlight: The Andheri school team did not have a strong batting line-up this season, but thanks to some effective spin bowling, they did relatively well in the league, though they didn't manage to qualify for the knock-outs. In three matches, Satyak scalped an impressive 26 wickets. His best effort was against Anjuman-I-Islam Allana English, where he took 12 wickets (4-72 & 8-14).

Ashok YadavSchool: Anjuman-I-Islam (Urdu)Playing position: All rounderBatting style: Right-handed batsmanBowling style: Off spinnerAge: 15.Performances this seasonTotal wickets: 30Total runs: 237Harris highlight: Ashok's best batting performance this season came against Swami Vivekanand (Kandivli), where he scored 137. The all rounder gave a fine account of his off spinners in the semi-final against defending champions Rizvi Springfield (Bandra). He took 6-204 but failed to help his team reach the final.

Dhruva VedakSchool: IES VN Sule Guruji (Dadar)Bowling style: Left-arm spinnerBatting style: Right-handed batsmanAge: 15Performance this seasonTotal wickets: 32Total runs: 48Harris highlight: Dhruva has been one of IES VN Sule Guruji's (Dadar) most consistent and reliable spinners in the last couple of years. This season, his best performance was against IES Raja Shivaji in the semi-finals. He took 11 wickets (5-37 & 6-28) in the match conceding just 65 runs as his team won by an innings and 26 runs.